Jaap Blonk is Dr. Voxoid

Dr Voxoid's Next Move

is Jaap Blonk's current voice and electronics performance.
It is in constant development, new possibilities being added frequently.
He prefers to choose a specific program on the spot and may even change it during a performance.

It may contain:
- sound poetry (his own works and possibly an occasional 'classic' from this tradition)
- pieces in invented languages, for instance in "Onderlands" (the language of the Underlands, a variation on Netherlands)
- phonetic etudes and processes
- live soundscapes
- improvisations, both for solo voice and in dialogue with his live electronics
- and more...

Some video examples:
Kurt Schwitters' Ursonate, First Movement
Performance in Other Minds Festival, San Francisco
Quarantine concert for ESS, Chicago, June 2020

Some sound examples:
First Class Nightmares
Solo for Cheek Synthesizer
Re Re Quap Sush
Frank Eulogy

Montevideo, October 2017 - Photo by Paola Scagliotti

Press:

("Victoriaville Heroes": FIMAV, Victoriaville, May 2011)
We can add to this short list of 2011FIMAV highlights the mind-bending Dadaistic vaudevillian virtuosity of the Dutch Jaap Blonk, who does things with his voice and texts (including historic 1920s-era sound poem works by Kurt Schwitters and others) that nobody else does. I felt my mental pores opening up during his solo show, called “Dr. Voxoid’s Next Move.” Some semi-Godly vision of controlled abandon welled up inside of me. Or maybe that’s just Harold Camping putting the religious inklings in me, redirected toward the dada side by the shaman Blonk. It’s the kind of epiphany occasionally to be found in this cowtown, although you never know when it will hit and zap your sense of wonder. Such is life.
(Josef Woodard, The Santa Barbara Independent)

Strangely similar to the Brötzmann (and on the same afternoon) was the solo voice lecture/recital by Dutch voice artist Jaap Blonk. He opened with the repeated sentence "Are you listening?" in his own forceful whisper, slowly pushing in volume and growl. Blonk loosely played the role of Dr Voxoid, a professor speaking on the history of sound poetry and falling into the subject, seeming to lose himself at times or lose the character for the sanctity of a piece at other times. He performed pieces by pioneers in the field, including Antonin Artaud and Kurt Schwitters, as well as works of his own devise. He performed a suite of pieces he wrote in "Underlands," a nonsense language he created out of Dutch phonemes, explaining that that way it didn't have to be translated and could be enjoyed by anyone. The pure range of technique Blonk has developed—down to the fricative sounds of his "cheek synthesizer"—is impressive, but what might not have been expected within a performance of something that sounds as dryly artful as "sound poetry" was Blonk's sense of humor. He was, along with everything else, quite a good actor with a surprising sense for physical humor.
(Kurt Gottschalk, All Music Guide to Jazz)

Amanda Earl, Ottawa
Jamie Lee Rake, Milwaukee

Dr Voxoid's Next Move is Jaap Blonk's current voice and electronics performance. It is in constant development, new possibilities being added frequently. He prefers to choose a specific program on the spot and may even change it during a performance. It may contain: - sound poetry (his own works and possibly an occasional 'classic' from this tradition) - pieces in invented languages, for instance in "Onderlands" (the language of the Underlands, a variation on Netherlands) - phonetic etudes and processes - live soundscapes - improvisations, both for solo voice and in dialogue with his live electronics - and more... Some video examples: Kurt Schwitters' Ursonate, First Movement Performance in Other Minds Festival, San Francisco Quarantine concert for ESS, Chicago, June 2020 Some sound examples: First Class Nightmares Solo for Cheek Synthesizer Re Re Quap Sush Frank Eulogy

Montevideo, October 2017 - Photo by Paola Scagliotti
Press: ("Victoriaville Heroes": FIMAV, Victoriaville, May 2011) We can add to this short list of 2011FIMAV highlights the mind-bending Dadaistic vaudevillian virtuosity of the Dutch Jaap Blonk, who does things with his voice and texts (including historic 1920s-era sound poem works by Kurt Schwitters and others) that nobody else does. I felt my mental pores opening up during his solo show, called “Dr. Voxoid’s Next Move.” Some semi-Godly vision of controlled abandon welled up inside of me. Or maybe that’s just Harold Camping putting the religious inklings in me, redirected toward the dada side by the shaman Blonk. It’s the kind of epiphany occasionally to be found in this cowtown, although you never know when it will hit and zap your sense of wonder. Such is life. (Josef Woodard, The Santa Barbara Independent) Strangely similar to the Brötzmann (and on the same afternoon) was the solo voice lecture/recital by Dutch voice artist Jaap Blonk. He opened with the repeated sentence "Are you listening?" in his own forceful whisper, slowly pushing in volume and growl. Blonk loosely played the role of Dr Voxoid, a professor speaking on the history of sound poetry and falling into the subject, seeming to lose himself at times or lose the character for the sanctity of a piece at other times. He performed pieces by pioneers in the field, including Antonin Artaud and Kurt Schwitters, as well as works of his own devise. He performed a suite of pieces he wrote in "Underlands," a nonsense language he created out of Dutch phonemes, explaining that that way it didn't have to be translated and could be enjoyed by anyone. The pure range of technique Blonk has developed—down to the fricative sounds of his "cheek synthesizer"—is impressive, but what might not have been expected within a performance of something that sounds as dryly artful as "sound poetry" was Blonk's sense of humor. He was, along with everything else, quite a good actor with a surprising sense for physical humor. (Kurt Gottschalk, All Music Guide to Jazz) Amanda Earl, Ottawa Jamie Lee Rake, Milwaukee